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Swahili A respectful greeting offered by a younger person to an elder. The Swahili language, is basically of Bantu (African) origin. It has borrowed words from other languages such as Arabic probably as a result of the Swahili people using the Quran written in Arabic for spiritual guidance as Muslims. The language is Kiswahili and the word "Swahili" is derived from the Arabic word "Sawahil" which is the plural of "Sahil" which means coast. The people of the coasts were known as "AL SAWAHILIYYAH" the people of the coasts, which later metamorphosed into the Kiswahili(language) Mswahili (one Swahili person) and Waswahili (Swahili persons). Interestingly, the inhabitants of the West coast of Africa did not get the name Al-Sawahailiyyah. It is unique to the East Coast. One reason being that the Arabs found that the language spoken on the whole Eastern littoral was similar, hence the generic name coastal language, whereas in West Africa there were different languages. The coastal people in East Africa had trading relationships with each other long before the visitors came from across the Indian Ocean. Whilst, for the it's history,the older view linked to the colonial time asserts that the Swahili language originates from Arabs and Persians who moved to the East African coast.

A suggestion has been made that Swahili is an old language. The earliest known document recounting the past situation on the East African coast written in the 2nd century AD (in Greek language by anonymous author at Alexandria in Egypt and it is called the Periplus of Erythrean Sea) says that merchants visiting the East African coast at that time from Southern Arabia, used to speak with the natives in their local language and they intermarried with them. Those that suggest that Swahili is an old language point to this early source for the possible antiquity of the Swahili language. The earliest Swahili manuscripts are in Arabic alphabet and can be found in the British Museum in London. After western colonization, there was shift to the Roman script. Swahili is the most widely spoken African language, with 50 million speakers in East Africa and Central Africa, particularly in Tanzania (including Zanzibar) and Kenya. Along the East Coast of Africa, the age old customs and traditions are very much alive and practised. Click for Useful Swahili Words